1. Field of the Invention
A method for operating a fire-control system based on a HEURISTIC ALGORITHM.
The invention relates to a method for operating a fire-control system suitable for at least substantially simultaneously engaging a plurality of threats, employing sensors and weapons, whereby, on the basis of an environment of the fire control system and on the basis of a selected suitability criterion, one planning is selected from a pool of for instance heuristically determined feasible plannings in order to engage the threats.
2. Discussion of the Background
A method of this type is effectively applied in large fire-control systems as for instance installed on board naval craft. It is found, however, that the formulation of heuristically determined plannings, based on a large amount of tactical and logistic information is a time-consuming process. Moreover, a pool of plannings thus determined will never be complete, since experience shows that threats are continuously turning up for which no suitable planning exists. Also a minor change in the fire-control system proves to be disastrous to the existing plannings. In conclusion it has been found that a commander, who has the ultimate decision in the selection of a feasible planning, is faced with the virtually impossible task of selecting a best feasible planning in the short space of time available to him. The fact that the own ship's chance of survival is generally taken as suitability criterion illustrates the importance of finding the best feasible planning.